The Southern Baptist S(p)ending Crunch

“The missions agency of the largest US Protestant denomination faces a $21 million deficit. Could it spell the end of the fulltime missionary?

avid Platt makes no small plans.

When the 36-year-old pastor and Radical book author became president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board (IMB) in 2014, the agency had about 5,000 missionaries. Platt hopes to someday have 100,000.

He just has to figure out how to pay them.

This summer, Platt announced that the 170-year-old agency will cut between 600 and 800 staff due to a financial crisis. One of the largest missionary organizations in the United States, the IMB had a $21 million deficit for 2015 and had overspent by $210 million since 2009, draining its reserves…” Read more